Smarthavicharam or Smaartha Vichaaram was the ritualistic trial of a Nambudiri woman and fellow male adulterers

Adultery

Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...

 who were accused of illegitimate sexual relations. If the accused women was found guilty, she and the men found involved with her (known as jaaran) were excommunicated

Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

 or ostracized (Bhrashtu) and banished

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

. The permission of Maharaja (king) was necessary for the conduct of smarthavicharam. The practice is nonexistent today and last reportedly took place in 1918.

The 1994 Malayalam film Parinayam

Parinayam

Parinayam is a Malayalam–language film directed by Hariharan and written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. The key characters are played by Mohini, Vineeth and Manoj.K.Jayan...

is based on Smarthavicharam.

Trial of Kuriyedath Thathri

The most sensational Smarthavicharam was the one in 1905 that involved Kuriyedath Thathri, the wife of Chemmanthatta Kuriyedathu Raman Namboodiri of Mukundapuram Taluk. The verdict was pronounced on the night of July 13, 1905, indicting Thathri and the other accused men. Some sources say that there were 65 accused men (jaaran) and she was asked to name them and substantiate it by narrating their body marks. The accused included 30 Namboothiris, 10 Iyers, 13 Ambalavaasis and 11 Nairs.

Descendants

M. G. Ramachandran

M. G. Ramachandran

Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran , popularly known by his initials , was an Indian film actor, director, producer and politician....

 was the son of Melakkath Gopala Menon who was banished in the 1903 Smarthavicharam of a widowed Nambudiri. Melakkath Menon at the time was a judicial officer in Trissur, and was forced to leave this job and his family, and married Satyabhama, belonging to Maruthur family, a Nair family in Vadavannur, Palakkad

Palakkad

Palakkad , formerly known as Palghat, is a municipality and a town in the state of Kerala in southern India, spread over an area of 26.60 km2.The city is situated about north of state capital Thiruvananthapuram. It is the administrative headquarters of Palakkad District...

 and migrated to Ceylon.
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